UPDATED: Apple’s iBookstore Opens in Latin America, New Zealand

The iBookstore has opened for business in most of Central and South America, several sources are reporting. Books have also gone on sale in New Zealand. The news comes just a day before Apple is expected to launch a lower-cost, smaller-format iPad tomorrow.

In Latin America, the store is reported to be open in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela, in addition to other countries in Latin America.

Of course, there is one very important caveat: everything is priced in US dollars, save for in Mexico, and the sales, at least in Brazil, are essentially available through a “window” to the US iBookstore, where currently Apple is offering just 3,000 titles in Portuguese — including titles from DLD, Intrinseca, Simplissimo, and the public domain. Some Portuguese titles from Portugal are also on sale, apparently for titles for which no Brazilian rights have been sold. (Oddly, no books in English are available, though there are titles in French and Spanish, and the titles from Portugal don’t indicate that they are written in a significantly different tongue.)

For Spanish-language buyers, there are 12,000 titles available in Spanish, most of which appear to be from Spain’s e-book distributor Libranda. In all there are 50, 000 fiction titles and just 3,800 non-fiction titles on sale to these new markets. (See screenshots below).

Get Publishing Perspectives in your inbox each day and stay up-to-date on international publishing.

About Publishing Perspectives

Publishing Perspectives is an online magazine of international book publishing news and opinion. Our global network of publishing experts and reporters provide on-the-ground info and analysis from those on the cutting edge of digital, global, and self-publishing.